superior in quality, in consequence of their containing an excess of
tartaric acid, their fruit containing a greater portion of this acid than
does ours. Wines during fermentation, if improperly managed, will produce
_acetic acid_, which will greatly deteriorate their quality.

Various have been the opinions of eminent men on the effects of wine upon
the constitution. It would be needless to enter into a detailed account
of all those who have written for or against its utility; the following,
from a modern eminent writer _against_ the use of wines will suffice, and
serve to show that the opponents to wine-drinking have at least some
reason on their side. Mr. Beddoes, states, in his "Hygeia," vol. ii, p.
35, that an ingenious surgeon tried the following experiment:--He gave
two of his children for a week alternately after dinner, to the one a
full glass of sherry, and to the other a large China orange; the effects
that followed were sufficient to prove the _injurious tendency_ of vinous
liquors. In the one the pulse was quickened, the heat increased; whilst
the other had every appearance that indicated high health; the same
effect followed when the experiment was reversed. This certainly is a
formidable objection, but let us before drawing a final conclusion,
examine the opposite arguments.

Wines, and, indeed, all fermented liquors have an antiseptic quality.
They act in direct opposition to putrefaction, and in proportion to the
quantity of alcohol which they contain, so will be their value and
beneficial tendency. Now the circulating fluids of our system have a
continual tendency to putrefaction; and the food we take, both animal
and vegetable, tends to produce this effect; if, therefore, something of
an antiseptic nature, or of a nature in direct opposition to this
principle be not received, the fluids would ultimately become a mass of
corruption, with the extinction of life. If we meet with an individual